He was on the floor. That was the first though that entered Logan's mind when he came to. With a slight moan he cracked open one eye, and then quickly snapped it closed. Oh God. There was someone in his apartment. Not just any someone. A girl. A girl with red hair. How did she find me? God, what are she going to do to me? At The thought of anyone, doing anything, to him, Logan automatically tensed. Five seconds went by, then twenty. After a full two and a half minutes had passed Logan let out a slow breath. Obviously nothing was going to happen until he opened his eyes. So he did--just in time to meet a pair of intense green ones.
"Logan Cale, also known as Eyes Only. You want to save the world, or what's left of it. Max just wanted to find the others."
The girl was staring straight ahead. Her eyes were blank, empty.
"You have files on almost every government conspiracy since the pulse, including Manticore. You also have a file on all the X-5's you've come into contact with: Zach, Brin, Tinga,Ben, and Jace. Four out of the 12 that escaped in '09. On that account you're wrong, though. It wasn't just twelve that escaped, it was thirteen."
Hope shook herself out of the daze the always followed jack ins, and sucked in a low breath.
Logan just stared at her with wide eyes. In his shock he was only able to utter one word. "Thirteen?"
"Yeah." Hope slumped back in the chair. "They didn't even notice I was missing until I didn't answer during role call the next day." Hope snorted. "By then the report had already been sent in. They didn't want to look even more stupid by saying that they hadn't even noticed when I walked right though the front gate. So they said I was caught by the dogs." Hope let out a sarcastic laugh. "Caught by the dogs, yea right. Those dog would have done anything I wanted them to."
Logan looked so confused, she felt the need to clarify.
"I got some K-9 from the powers that be. Somewhere along the way someone thought it would be funny to have both a dog and a cat mixed in with the X-5's. I guess they wanted to see if I would chase my tail or something."
When Logan looked her over with renewed interest, Hope resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"The tail in question being strictly metaphorical."
Logan blushed slightly. "Maybe you should tell me your name since you already know mine."
Hope grinned. This guy had guts. "Name's Hope." When Logan raised an eyebrow, she raised her hands in a gesture of mock surrender. "Yeah, yeah, I know. But, hey, I'll have you know it wasn't my idea," Hope said with a grin.
Logan cocked his head. "It wasn't your idea? What you just let someone else pick your name for you?" he said sarcastically.
Hope shrugged. "Pretty much."
Logan realized that she was serious. But he still had to ask. "You're serious?"
"Yep, the day we gave ourselves names, the little girl who was 452, soon to be Max, knew I was really nervous about an obstacle corse we were going to run the next day. So she tried to cheer me up by saying I just needed a little hope." Hope gave a sweeping bow. "Thus was marked the beginning of the Hope you see before you today."
Logan was quiet for a moment. He knew he shouldn't ask, because he had already guessed the answer, but he wanted to know so badly...
"So you named each other? No one picked their names for themselves?" Logan asked as casually as he could manage.
Hope grinned rather evilly. She knew exactly what he wanted to know. She also knew how he felt about Max. She decided to tease him a little.
"Nope. No one picked their own names. Like I told you. Max named me." Hope nodded her head with each name. "I named Ben, Ben named Zane, Zane named Syl, Syl named Tinga, Tinga named Brin, Brin named Jace, Jace named-" Hope was cut off by Logan.
"Okay, okay, I get it. And that's all nice and swell." Then he added sharply. "But who named Max?"
"Whoa jeeze, don't bite my tail off," she joked. At Logan's dark look she quickly added. "Zach. It was Zach."
"Right, Zach. Of corse it was Zach. Big brother Zach. Great leader Zach. I should have known," Logan said sarcastically. You did know, thought Hope, out loud she said. "You did know, or at least you thought you knew. Why did you ask?"
Logan signed. "I have no idea." He took a deep breath and then looked her straight in the eye. "What did you mean by that whole ''escaping by myself'' thing? I've never found any records of a thirteenth X-5 escaping."
Hope shrugged. "Maybe you just didn't know were to look."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Logan asked. Hope just shrugged again. "Okay, well then, why don't you tell me what happened the night of the escape," Logan said.
Hope nodded slowly. "Okay." Logan watched as Hope took a deep breath. "When the escape started I was looking for new scrubs. I'd had a nightmare and wet the bed." Hope choked off a sob. "You want to know what it was about? I dreamed that my brothers and sisters left me and then they forgot who I was, so they didn't even notice I wasn't with them."
As Logan watched a lone tear slid down her cheek.
"By the time I got back to the barracks. The one's who were going had already left. I didn't know what to do but I didn't want to get left behind, so I just started running. When I got to the gate, the guard just stared at me. He didn't even move as I walked right out the main gate."
Hope had to take a deep breath to finish her story, but she felt like she needed to tell someone. And Logan Cale seemed as good as anyone.
"I ran until I got to the meeting point. It was a clearing we could see from own window at Manticore. It was about three clicks away. It took me four days to realize no one was coming to get me. A few weeks later I managed to get to a computer line and jack into Manticore. That was when I realized the others didn't even know I made it out. My nightmare had come true. Funny how things work out like that."
Hope slowly lifted her eyes to meet Logan's, they were glittering with tears. "And now I've found one of them. So tell me, please, Logan. Where the hell is my sister?"